THERE is no longer anywhere cheap to live in Oxford, leaving average earners priced out of the market, new figures show.

That is the stark conclusion from Land Registry figures that show housing costs have doubled in just over a decade.

A breakdown of sale prices in every street reveals half of the city’s housing now costs more than 10 times the average £26,500 salary. And there is nowhere in Oxford affordable enough for people to buy their own home for less than five times their earnings.

Mark Fransham social research officer at Oxford City Council, analysed the numbers to chart how the cost of housing has changed since 1997.

He published two maps showing the average house prices in different parts of the city compared to the average earnings between 1997 and 2000 and from 2010 to 2013.

The average cost of a property in North Oxford has risen from £215,000 to £580,000 and is 19.8 times the average wage in the area.

The least expensive area, relative to earnings, is Blackbird Leys but even there, prices have soared by two and a half times, with a three-bedroom home going from £66,000 in the late 1990s to £185,000 last year. The average cost of a house on the estate is now 6.1 times the average salary. Blackbird Leys is now as expensive as Headington – one of the most expensive – was 15 years are go.

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Mr Fransham said: “Affordability has always varied across the city and that is still the same but now the relatively cheap areas are as expensive as the expensive areas.

“There aren’t any cheap areas in the city any more.”

Latest figures from the Land Registry show that Oxfordshire has seen a rise of 11.4 per cent in property prices over the last 12 months, beaten in the South East only by rises in Surrey (13.6 per cent) and Reading (12.8 per cent).

The average cost of a property in Oxford has now hit £357,000, almost 14 times the £26,500 average wage.

Last month the Oxford Mail reported that a summerhouse at the end of a north Oxford garden went on sale for £750,000.

The Old Summerhouse in Norham Road attracted three offers, even though the 50 ft x 50 ft plot can be reached only by a footpath running down the side of another garden.

Although its new owner will need to spend £30-100,000 on it, at £1,000 per square feet, the two-bedroom property is as expensive as parts of London.

James Cridland, of agents Cridland & Co which handled the sale, said: “The amount of money available to buy in central Oxford is breathtaking.”

MUM'S HOME ROCKETS BY £40k in JUST TWO YEARS

MOTHER-of-one Emma Bolam has seen her three-bedroom home in Blackbird Leys rocket in value by £40,000 during the two years she has lived there with her six-year-old son.

The scientist, who works at Oxford University’s Headington campus, bought the house in Spindleberry Close for £215,000 in 2012 but while remortgaging six weeks ago, was told it is now worth £255,000.

Emma Bolam outside her Blackbird Leys home Ms Bolam said: “I made a good investment but I was amazed that the valuation was as high as it was.”

She was able to put down a deposit of £80,000, thanks to making £70,000 on a Greater Leys house she bought in 2007.

Using a shared ownership scheme, she bought a 30 per cent share of the property, then worth £107,000, before increasing that to 100 per cent in 2010, when it was valued at £153,000.

She sold it for £177,500 in 2012.

She added: “There is no way I could have afforded to buy the first house without the shared housing option and I could not have bought the house I am in now, if I hadn’t had such a good deposit.”

NO END IN SIGHT AS BUYERS FORCED TO LOOK OUTSIDE CITY

BLACKBIRD Leys community worker and resident Jim Hewitt said he sees many people struggling to find affordable places to live.

He said: “There is a huge demand for low-wage workers in Oxford to serve the hospitals, tourism and colleges, so there is an enormous demand for rooms.

Mark Fransham “The going rate for renting just one room in a house here seems to be £300 a month and for a three-bedroom house you are looking at £1,200 or above.

“It’s almost impossible for many to afford accommodation.”

And Blackbird Leys resident and parish councillor Brian Lester, who bought his house 30 years ago, said three-bedroom houses in the area are on the market for £250,000.

He said: “The changes have been tremendous since I’ve been here.

“The people have changed and the prices have changed. When I see what is being asked for houses here now, I am absolutely amazed.”

Oxford City Council’s Mark Fransham, who analysed the newly available Land Registry figures, said rising prices are forcing people out further from the centre of Oxford.

He said: “Cowley Road is as expensive now as north Oxford was in 2000 but if anyone had said that would be the case back in 1998 when I came to the city, I wouldn’t have believed them.

“At that time, East Oxford was affordably priced, then you had to move out to Cowley to be able to afford a place, then Kidlington and now it’s Bicester.”

Jim Hewitt The problem is worse in the lowest-priced parts of Oxford, because there tends to be more social housing and less properties coming up for sale, he said.

In the report published by Oxford City Council it states that just 140 homes a year are sold in the three cheapest areas of the city, compared to 280 a year in the three most expensive. And there seems no end in sight, as prices continue to rise.

SOARING HOUSE PRICES SPELL HELLO TO GENERATION RENT

ESTATE agents have said they’ve seen a significant rise in house prices across the city.

Property expert Richard Goodwin of agents Martin & Co, said houses in Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys are going on the market at “ridiculous prices”.

He added: “If you look at the disparity between prices in 1999 and 2014, it looks quite crazy, especially from 2007, the year of the housing boom.

“It’s tough for first-time buyers and it means the rise of Generation Rent will continue.”

Richard Goodwin, of estate agents Martin & Co, outside 28 Columbine Gardens And prices in some areas of Oxford are expected to increase even more as better rail links to London become available. David and Sarah Coleman bought their North Oxford home in 1982 for £115,000 and it is now thought to be worth in excess of £4m.

The couple, who moved to Oxford from London, have never had their house valued but said they are regularly approached about its sale.

Mr Coleman, a retired academic, said: “At least once a week we get a glossy estate agents leaflet through the door about looking to sell up.

He added: “We spent several years converting it, I did most of it up myself. The rise in house prices here over the years has been ridiculous.”

The house was previously inhabited by young women at the Oxford and County Secretarial College, which functioned between 1952 and 1999.

The Colemans moved in with their three children, who have since flown the nest. The couple said they would eventually downsize, but not because of the money.

Mrs Coleman, 67, said they spent two years looking for their dream house.

“We spent a long time searching. I had young children so I didn’t want to live three floors up. We don’t want to move, we don’t want to live anywhere else.”

Water Eaton’s Oxford Parkway is due to open next year near Kidlington and will mean it will be possible to reach London’s Marylebone station in less than an hour on the Chiltern Line. Renting in Oxford is also out of reach for those on average incomes.

In September a report released by Summertown-based agents Savills revealed that the cost of renting in Oxford had jumped by 15 per cent during the past five years and would go up by another 21 per cent in the next five.

A one-bedroom flat in Polestead Road in north Oxford, was let in October for £1,500 per month to one overseas student, whose parent paid the year’s rent of £18,000 in advance.

Emily Hayward, head of lettings for Savills, which handled the deal, said: “There’s a real shortage of one- and two-bedroom flats in Oxford but this shows the strength of the wealthy student market.

“There is huge demand from wealthy students coming from overseas, whose parents are willing to pay a year’s rent up front.”

Another agent, who asked not to be identified, said they recently let a one-bedroom apartment in the Oxford Castle complex to two female overseas students who paid the £19,000 annual rent before moving in.

THE AFFORDABLE HOMES DEBATE

A TOTAL of 485 council homes will be built in the city over the next 10 years to help ease Oxford’s housing crisis.

The city council has revealed it will be paid for by a pot of £96m set aside in the council’s budget for 2015/16.

The Oxford Mail revealed in January that not a single affordable home was built in the city in the 2013/14 financial year.

Of the funding, Blackbird Leys will receive £10.3m, with 230 affordable homes earmarked for the estate, in addition to 255 council homes in other parts of the city at a cost of £45m. Where these 255 homes will go is to be decided by the council in due course.

Money will also be spent improving existing properties by installing solar panels, improving insulation and energy efficiency.

There will be £4.7m to improve the Barton area, such as adding benches and sorting out street lights.

COUNCILLOR FEARS A 'GHETTO FOR THE RICH' SCENARIO

CITY councillor Ed Turner has said Oxford’s housing crisis affects people from all different backgrounds and employers.

The Rose Hill and Iffley councillor said: “Twenty or thirty years ago, people who had the money may have been able to buy somewhere but that’s not the case now and when you compare average prices with average incomes, even people in well-paid jobs will find it extremely difficult, unless they are lucky enough to benefit from a very prosperous background or have inherited wealth.

“What worries me is that we risk pricing not just poor but also middle income people out of the city.

“If we don’t want to see Oxford just becoming a ghetto for the rich, we have to see the city expand.

“I am all for seeing building in Bicester and Didcot but that’s not going to solve the problems in Oxford.

“The Land Registry figures illustrate clearly what we all knew and what’s dramatic is the way things have changed.

“If you take a couple, say a nurse and a bus driver, earning professional wages in Oxford, you won’t arrive at anywhere like an income that will let them buy anywhere in the city.”

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